keep on keeping on

We're having such a delightful fall. I can't remember the last autumn that was so pleasant in temperature and yet still very fall-like in the air. Every day seems to bring more of the same right now - it's comfortable and lovely to work and play out of doors all day long. Which is just exactly what we've been doing.

The last fall bits of the garden keep coming inside - cabbage is done now, but kale, broccoli, beets and carrots are all loving this weather and tasting all the better for it. Squash soup is in regular rotation. My blender is getting its annual workout. Our bellies are full.

And the little pigs continue to fill theirs too. With the garden leftovers both delivered to them in their slop bucket, and those they unearth as they root around in this area that housed tomatoes and greens a mere two weeks ago. Can you believe what they've done, these amazing pigs? That rich, wonderful soil they've turned over - it's beautiful work they're doing. It has me excited about next year's garden.

"Next year's garden" is precisely where a lot of our energy is going right now. Soil! Mulch! More sunlight! In this weekend's exciting large equipment rental, we brought home a wood chipper. With no shortage of brush piles around here, we made ourselves some wood chip mulch. Next to the pile of leaves my boys have been raking, it's feeling comparable to the comforting and reassuring stack of wood under the woodshed. Assurance about what lies ahead. A warm winter. A well-supplied garden after that.

So the garden shed gets a new roof, greenhouse plans continue, and a few more trees come down, giving us a little more sun where we need it. Next years garden in progress already, before this one has even ended. And that's one of the things I'm coming to love about garden. Despite it not being the most fabulous of growing years for us here, there isn't time for wallowing in our mistakes or missteps, or even revelling in the glory and success of it were that the case. Because the next season, the next time, the next thing is calling us to keep on keeping on. And so we move forward with that task, hopefully having learned something in the step prior. This work can absolutely never be perfected, but constantly improved upon, always made better with sincere effort. And always savored just a little bit more for the beauty and the joy while we're in it.

Comments

keep on keeping on

We're having such a delightful fall. I can't remember the last autumn that was so pleasant in temperature and yet still very fall-like in the air. Every day seems to bring more of the same right now - it's comfortable and lovely to work and play out of doors all day long. Which is just exactly what we've been doing.

The last fall bits of the garden keep coming inside - cabbage is done now, but kale, broccoli, beets and carrots are all loving this weather and tasting all the better for it. Squash soup is in regular rotation. My blender is getting its annual workout. Our bellies are full.

And the little pigs continue to fill theirs too. With the garden leftovers both delivered to them in their slop bucket, and those they unearth as they root around in this area that housed tomatoes and greens a mere two weeks ago. Can you believe what they've done, these amazing pigs? That rich, wonderful soil they've turned over - it's beautiful work they're doing. It has me excited about next year's garden.

"Next year's garden" is precisely where a lot of our energy is going right now. Soil! Mulch! More sunlight! In this weekend's exciting large equipment rental, we brought home a wood chipper. With no shortage of brush piles around here, we made ourselves some wood chip mulch. Next to the pile of leaves my boys have been raking, it's feeling comparable to the comforting and reassuring stack of wood under the woodshed. Assurance about what lies ahead. A warm winter. A well-supplied garden after that.

So the garden shed gets a new roof, greenhouse plans continue, and a few more trees come down, giving us a little more sun where we need it. Next years garden in progress already, before this one has even ended. And that's one of the things I'm coming to love about garden. Despite it not being the most fabulous of growing years for us here, there isn't time for wallowing in our mistakes or missteps, or even revelling in the glory and success of it were that the case. Because the next season, the next time, the next thing is calling us to keep on keeping on. And so we move forward with that task, hopefully having learned something in the step prior. This work can absolutely never be perfected, but constantly improved upon, always made better with sincere effort. And always savored just a little bit more for the beauty and the joy while we're in it.

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Greetings! I'm Amanda Blake Soule - mother of five, author of three books on family creativity, and editor-in-chief of Taproot Magazine. I live with my family in an old farmhouse in Western Maine where we raise animals, grow vegetables and make lots of things. I write about it all here on the blog. Thank you for visiting!